From the White House lawn, Pope Francis made a plea to protect our “common home” from climate change. It may seem odd for a religious leader to address global warming. But for many, global warming is a religion.
No, we’re not being sacrilegious. For left-wing adherents of global warming, their faith holds all the comforts of a religion.
Nor is that just our opinion.
The late best-selling author Michael Crichton, a medical doctor, was perhaps the first to call radical global warmism a “religion” in a prescient 2003 speech.
Since then, others have concluded the same thing.
“Global warming has become a religion,” warned Richard Lindzen, an MIT professor and one of the world’s foremost authorities on climate change.
“Global warming really has become a new religion,” echoes Nobel Prize-winning physicist Ivar Giaever — who, by the way, endorsed Barack Obama for president in 2008. “Because you cannot discuss it. It’s not proper. It is like the Catholic Church.”
Another great physicist, Freeman Dyson, made remarkably similar observations, calling climate change “both a science and a religion. Belief is strong, even when scientific evidence is weak.”
Even global warming’s most fervent advocates agree. In his resignation letter after a scandal earlier this year, Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the U.N.’s global warming propaganda arm, called the climate change and sustainability movement “my religion and my dharma.”
But former British chancellor Nigel Lawson really hit the nail on the head: “There is a great gap in Europe with the decline of any real belief in Marxism and any real belief in Christianity. This has filled the vacuum.”
Exactly. The Green Left, having abandoned formal religion of the Judeo-Christian sort, and having lost their faith in Marxism as a replacement, has joined the Church of Climate Change. That’s why these green true believers so warmly embrace Pope Francis’ message.
As for the literal similarities to organized religion, they’re striking. Consider just these few elements:
¬ï‚Ä¢ Faith. Global warming, like the church, is faith-based — lacking hard evidence, but no less fervently believed.
•• Original sin. By being born into carbon-fuel using society, we are all steeped in sin and must atone for our wealth by sharply reducing our living standards.
‚Ä¢¬ï Skeptics. Reviled as “doubters” and “deniers,” just as in the medieval church, they’re targeted for extreme punishment — as the letter from 20 global warming scientists to President Obama seeking prosecution of those who reject global warming amply displays.
¬ï‚Ä¢ Indulgences. Those who have sinned, as in the medieval church, can purchase indulgences — we just call them carbon offsets or recycling. Same idea.
¬ï‚Ä¢ Rituals. Earth Day, corporate “green” campaigns, driving electric cars, recycling. Green rituals waste money, but they signal who is among the green Elect.
¬ï‚Ä¢ Heaven. Yes, they have that, too. It’s here on Earth, but only after we quit using carbon-based fuels.
We’re not surprised that the pope’s remarks resonate so strongly with those who no longer believe in God. He’s speaking a language they can understand.
